Part of the philosophical debate of the past several years has been dedicated to post-modernism. But it is no easy task to define that concept precisely. Widespread in different fields of research – sociology, philosophy, beaux-arts, ethics, etc. – the concept can designate the era of new technology, ecology, alternative politics, or the yearning for new forms of social integration. It can also refer to a questioning of reason, the crisis of the subject and spiritual relativism.
This profusion of meanings makes manifest the real difficulty in qualifying our present day. To enlighten the situation, Jean-François Petit has chosen to go back to the critical debate opposing the father of post-modernism, Jean-François Lyotard, and the most important contemporary German philosopher, Jürgen Habermas. This re-reading allowed him to establish ground rules for a consideration of the current crisis in western societies, and a strategy for emerging from it. 

How can we emerge from the triple crisis characterizing contemporary western society: a crisis of reason and of subject and spiritual relativism? Jean-François Petit establishes a precise diagnosis, drawing on the analyses of Lyotard and Habermas in their debate about post-modernism. By describing the philosophy necessary to our time, he also designs a strategy for emerging from the current crisis.